Team seven 2,0
by JulieArchery107
Summary: One night Kakashi finds a group of genin unconscious in the forest, he takes them to the hospital and Tsunade interrogates them. That's when things became complicated, not only did the village they came from not exist but their character traits, blood types and abilities all mach up with Kakashi's old team. Who are they? Why are they so similar to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura? R&R Pls
1. Chapter 1

"Mirror image."

Chapter 1

"The three genin."

The sound of panting and swishing of a thrown shuriken echoed through the dark forest, breaking the silence of the night.

A team of three, young genin jumped from tree branch to tree branch, trying desperately to get away from their persuaders.

The one in the lead had to pick up his speed to avoid a series of kunai and shuriken from hitting his ankles, he also had a scroll holder strapped to his back, which gave away why he was targeted so harshly by the opposing team.

The boy made a jump but had to twist his body around to block the weapons flying in his direction, with his kunai.

He growled.

The offending team was getting more and more aggressive, every second their chance of getting away without a scratch, was going down to zero. And they still needed to get the scroll back to their village.

"'Inu'-kun!" A female voice panted, making the first boy's heart stop. "I…can't…keep…up!"

"'Himawari'!" He yelled, looking over his shoulder. When she didn't answer, he cursed "Damn it!" and ran back to where he was sure the young medic-in-training, fell. He scanned the area around him with his eyes but the darkness was too deep, preventing him from locating his teammate.

A "swish!" next to him, disrupted his search and he turned around, making the necessary hand-signs for a weak, wind style jutsu. He couldn't afford preforming higher techniques than D-rank ones, he needed all the chakra he can get to make sure he and his friends return safely to the village.

"Relax, Baka-'Inu'." Another boy's voice said from the darkness and the one called 'Inu', after recognizing the user of the voice, stopped his jutsu. "It's me, 'Pansa'."

'Inu' nodded, relaxing his stance. "And 'Himawari'-chan?"

"I've got her." 'Pansa' answered, pointing to the limp figure he was supporting. "She's out-cold though. Won't be much help if we get hurt along the way."

"Good." That answer was only regarding the first part of his friend's answer, the two other parts were disastrous.

"We better get going." 'Pansa' said looking over his shoulder. "They're going to catch up to us soon. My genjutsu isn't going to hold them for long."

"Right." 'Inu' then grabbed the girl's other hand and placed it over his head, making it rest on his back. After they were all comfortable, the two boy's began jumping from branch to branch in a steady, practiced pace.

This mission was beginning to get to dangerous for a simple C-rank.

A minute of silence passed between the teammates, before 'Inu' asked:

"How long to our destination?"

"Too long. We're won't make it."

"Shut up, teme!" 'Inu' shouted. "We won't fail! We're going to get the scroll back to the Hebikage, no matter what!"

"Quiet, baka!" 'Pansa', growled. "It's already a miracle we survived this long, with your loud mouth on the team, those S-rank criminals on our tail and without sensei here to lead us."

"I'm not a loud mouth!"

"Then, shut up!"

Reluctantly, the boy did what he was told.

After a minute of silence it was 'Pansa' who broke the silence.

"Something's not right."

"What do you mean?"

"They should have caught up to us by now. Why is the forest so sile-"

He didn't have the chance to finish for a loud explosion beneath their feet threw both boys off the ground, they ran right into a trap.

One of the rogues that prepared the trap, smiled under his breath.

The explosion wasn't strong enough to kill the three brats, but it was enough to knock them out.

He then walked up to the boy with the scroll holder and pulled the paper out.

Satisfied with how the mission went, he gave his men the signal to retreat. The konoha bastards will soon stumble upon the crater and he didn't want to be here when they do.

Meanwhile in Konoha :

Kakashi's single eye shot open and he sat up.

He had no idea what woke him up and that confused him. Usually it was either the sun itself or just an annoyed sixteen-year-old Naruto banging on his door.

This time it was neither, the sun is still on the other side of the planet and the blonde, knucklehead ninja was still sound asleep in his apartment.

The Copy ninja sighted and looked at the clock that rested on his night stand.

2:30 a.m.

Groaning he decided to let in some fresh air, he hasn't been at home much, mostly being busy on missions, and the place was getting very suffocating.

The Hatake hair walked up to the window and pulled it up, letting the cold, night air hit his naked arms. He closed his eyes and breathed it in with his mask covered nose, enjoying how refreshing it felt in his lungs.

Suddenly he froze.

There was something different in the air, something that wasn't the trees, the grass and the dust of the nearby training grounds.

It was smoke.

The last Hatake cursed under his breath and hurriedly dressed himself in his shinobi uniform, then ran out his apartment following the scent of burned grass and trees with his better-than-a-average-Inuzuka's nose.

It lead him deep into the forest, where a lot of fresh chakra signatures could be spotted with his sharingan eye.

When he finally got to the center of the explosion, all he could do was raise an eyebrow at the three pre-teens lieing in the middle of it.

They had weapon pouches on their tights and their chakra was suppressed on a genin level. But none of them had a headband to tell him what country they were from.

 _This kids are genin from a village that is very strict on hiding its name._ Kakashi mused seeing that all the children had that could resemble headbands were colorful ribbons tied around their heads, necks and arms.

He checked the first one for a pulse, satisfied when he felt it beating against his fingers he moved to the next kid.

The kids didn't seem life-threateningly injured, but it wouldn't hurt to take them to the hospital just to make sure.

"What have you little whippersnappers got yourselves into?" He asked, cloning himself with the 'shadow clone jutsu'. "And where is your, sensei?" The Hatake looked around with his sharingan but found no one.

Shaking his head he picked the brat closest to him and headed towards the Konoha hospital, his clones hot on his tail.

Tomorrow morning he'll get his answers, right now he has to make sure those kids survive through the night.

JA107: Hi guys! Welcome to my new story! Just to clarify, the names 'Inu', 'Pansa' and 'Himawari' are not their real names, they are nicknames they use on missions. The real names will be in the next chapter. Read and review folks! It will be worth it!


	2. Chapter 2

"Team Seven 2.0."

Chapter 2

"Confusing information."

A couple of hours after he left the children in the care of Tsunade and Shizune, Kakashi went to visit his old team at the memorial stone.

He brought a few rags and a bucket full of water along with him, because the stone was getting its fair share of bird abuse and he didn't know when will be the next time, he'll be able to do it.

Whistling quietly under his nose a song Rin once taught him, he began cleaning the only prove to the world that people like Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara and Minato Uzumaki once existed.

"Oh man, the birds really didn't go easy on you now did they, Crybaby?" He chuckled and continued scraping the dry bird droppings off the stone.

Once he was finished, he stood up and nodded his head in a silent prayer.

"I probably sound like a broken record by now, but…we all know the fact that you three are dead is entirely my fault and…I'm sorry." He paused. "That mission wasn't supposed to end like that, and it wouldn't if I just listened to you, Obito. If I wasn't such a selfish jerk, I would have gone to save Rin along with you and none of this would have happened. But…unfortunately, I was that selfish jerk." A sight escaped his masked face. "I tried so hard to teach the 'teamwork-is-everything' rule to my genin team, so that they don't make the same mistakes I did but…again I failed miserably." Another, longer sight left his throat. "Naruto took the lesson to his heart, you'd be so proud of him sensei. Sakura accepted it as well, but that's not where I failed. It was Sasuke, the genius, the prodigy that didn't listen. I'm beginning to see a pattern here…He almost killed Naruto, left the village altogether and joined Orochimaru." He was silent for a second. "Even though that too happened a long time ago, I'm still paying for my mistakes." He chuckled. "And it's not surprising, isn't it? I made so much of them I began to wonder if there was anything I did right, during my life."

Kakashi would continue his monologue, if it wasn't for an ANBU messenger that appeared.

"Kakashi Hatake?" The teen asked, no older than Sai.

Without even turning to face him, the taller man nodded.

"Your presence is requested by the Hokage." The young ANBU heard the man sight.

"It's about those kids I brought to the village, isn't it?" Kakashi asked, finally turning to look the messenger in the eye. The boy was an inch taller than Naruto and wore a porcelain mask representing a crow.

How comidic. A crow talking to a scarecrow.

He could almost hear the smile in the boy's voice. "Correct, Hatake-san. You're just as sharp as people say."

The Copy-Ninja shrugged, it wasn't the first time somebody complemented him that way, and he was used to it. "The question is: Why? It's just a group of ordinary genin."

The smile continued to grace the ANBU's face as he answered: "There is nothing ordinary in the genin you saved, Copy Ninja."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and without another word teleported into the Konoha hospital, leaving the boy in a swirl of leaves…

Only to reappear a second later.

The silver-haired ninja chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with a nervous smile on his face. "Where did the Hokage want to meet me, again?"

Crow chuckled at the expression on the man's face. "You went to the Hokage tower, didn't you?" He asked, his voice amused.

"And then to the Konoha white prison." Kakashi added, filling a large sweat-drop roll down his face. "She wasn't in either." God, he felt stupid.

Crow chuckled again, before gracing him with his answer. "The Hokage is in the KIC (Konoha Interrogation Center) along with Ibiki Morino and her assistant.

Kakashi nodded and teleported, asking himself just why he didn't go there in the first place.

#At the Konoha interrogation Center:

Tsunade almost laughed when the number one Brat in Konoha appeared with a small "poof" and a bit of smoke. Usually it took hours for the legendary Copy-Cat to finally honor them with his presence and now he appears just mere seconds after she send Crow out to retrieve him.

She shook her head. Just spike the kid's curiosity and he'll be there in a yippy, to bad S-rank missions don't figure under the word 'interesting' in his book.

"You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?" His usual bored tone pulled her out of thought.

"That's correct, Brat." She smiled, seeing his brow narrow at the nickname. "Follow me." Tsunade then led him towards the torture chamber where the three children were being questioned by Ibiki.

"So…what's so special about those children that you had to call me in, hmm?"

She raised an eyebrow at him but quickly let it fall back to its usual spot. "I assume from the question that you didn't see them, without the shadows covering their faces."

"I'm sorry, I was too busy making sure they got medical attention to check if their make-up didn't come off." He answered sarcastically and the Fifth Hokage rolled her eyes.

"This isn't the time for jokes, Brat."

"Who said, I was joking?"

She sighted and rubbed her hurting temples. "If you stop screwing around, I'll get to the point."

He gave her one of his classic eye-smiles and said: "Deal."

After a deep breath she began: "It turned out those genin have a remarkable resemblance to you your beloved students."

His eye widened. "Team seven? How so?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Tsunade said, pushing the steel door open and reviling Ibiki who was pressing one of the kids to the wall, while pushing the poor boy's arm up in an award angle.

"I won't ask you again, brat." Ibiki's growling voice, hissed. "What village do you come from?"

Kakashi then moved his eyes to the boy's face and his gray eye widened once more.

He felt as if he was looking at a younger version of Naruto Uzumaki, the only differences were his odd hair color which was, instead of yellowish-blonde, an mix of white, red and black, and the fact that the Uzumaki's trademark fox-like whiskers were pushed closer to the edge of the boy's cheeks instead of towards the nose.

The boy gasped and one of his giant, blue eyes opened. "I already told you." He rasped, his voice a perfect imitation of the Kyuubi's container. "We come from the Hidden Nest village, in the Lightening Country."

Ibiki growled and twisted the youngster's arm so harshly, Kakashi was worried it will pop out of its socket. "There is no such place as the 'Hidden Nest Village', now start telling the truth or I'll show you just how much it hurts to have a dislocated shoulder."

When the boy didn't answer, the larger ninja twisted his arm so harshly the poor kid yelled in pain.

"We're telling the truth, damn it!" Another voice spoke up and Kakashi's eyes meet a perfect copy of Sasuke Uchiha, again with minor differences. Like the fact that the kid had dark-blue eyes instead of black and that his hair was in the color of wood instead of pitch-black. "Stop torturing him already!"

But Ibiki did what he always did, he pressed harder.

"Stop it!" A girl's voice, broke through the captive boy's creams. "Please! Rashiro-kun is telling the truth, please stop hurting him!" And that's how the Copy Ninja found the Sakura-look-alike. Unlike the original Haruno, this girl's hair was a mix between Sakura and Ino, being mostly blond with pink stripes. It was also a lot longer than that of Sakura when she was her age.

"These are Rashiro Arashi." Tsunade pointed at the boy in his friend's grip. "Renoir Orewashi." She then gestured to the brown-haired kid that was trying to twist his way out of the bonds that were holding him in his place, on the chair. "And Aria Kuroko." Tsunade didn't have to show him who belonged to that name.

"You were right." Kakashi swallowed. "They do look a lot like team seven."

"Looks are not the only thing they share in common with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura." The Hokage said pointing at the medical files she was holding in her hands. "They also share the same chakra type and amount, blood types and body weight and size."

She then handed him the files to prove her words, as if he didn't believe any she said.

"You don't mean that they are-" He trailed of, watching Ibiki do his job.

"Yes, Kakashi." Tsunade said grimly. "They are clones."


	3. Chapter 3

"Team seven 2.0."

Chapter 3

"Fixing one, helping three."

"C-Clones?" Kakashi slurred out, eyeing Tsunade. "But…why-"

"Don't bother asking that question, Hatake." The Hokage rolled her eyes. "We all know you already figured out the answer."

The Copy Ninja couldn't stop shaking his head, eyes wide.

Clones.

Real life clones.

Not Shadow clones, not water clones, not even lightening clones.

But ones of flesh and blood.

Those three innocent children, were changed into perfect copies of his genin team.

Whoever did this, took away their identity, _life_ , free will, choice, dreams and, worst of all, their freedom. Those were the basics of being an individual human being that those poor kids were striped of, long before they were born!

Still shaking his head Kakashi took a glance at the genin, paling at the sight of the resemblance. During his long life as a ninja he saw a lot of horrible things done to the human body, but this was just inhuman!

The damage to their bodies, brains and chakra systems was irreversible. The poor three souls were cursed to wonder around in bodies that were never their own.

They will never be _themselves._

Gritting his teeth behind his mask, the Copy Ninja cursed whoever did this to them, under his breath.

He knew full well why he did it, he didn't need this genius brain to figure it out.

They were breed to oppose the originals. To get rid of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, the strongest ninjas of their generation.

He also suspected that their creator _fixed_ the obvious flaws in the team's characters, like Naruto's knuckle-headedness, Sasuke's arrogance and Sakura's uselessness.

Rashiro, Renoir and Aria are the new and improved, Team Seven.

"Stop it!" A scream pulled the silver haired ninja, out of his trans. "You're braking my arm!" The Naruto-look-alike pleaded through gritted teeth.

"Your arm is not the only thing I'm going to break if you don't start talking!" Ibiki growled, his voice accompanied by the sickening sound of a bone cracking beneath his large fingers.

The poor boy's limb was on the edge of breaking, one more strong push from the bigger ninja and it will be snapped cleanly in half.

Rashiro, however, refused to say anything else. Making the interrogation specialist's job a bit harder but more enjoyable. He was going to _love_ breaking every one of the brat's bones.

But before Ibiki could make the necessary action, he found himself slammed face-first with the cold wall with a very angry Copy Ninja, pushing his right arm up in an unnatural ankle.

"What the hell, Kakashi?" He managed to wheeze out with the bit of air that stayed in his lungs, after the younger ninja's attack.

"I don't care that you're just doing your job, Ibiki." The Hatake snarled in his ear. "You're dealing with _children,_ here! Those are not hardcore criminals you can just break like twigs!"

"If he'd just answer the damn question." A grunt. "I wouldn't need to!"

The Copy Ninja ignored him, instead turning to Lady Tsunade and Shizune, who were watching the whole scene from their spot in the interrogation room.

"Whose _brilliant_ idea was to bring _Ibiki_ , here?" He growled, tightening his grip on the taller man's shoulder.

For a second, none of the ladies cared to answer, afraid of what he would do if he found out.

However, after a minute of silence, somebody answered for them.

"It was the blonde." Naruto's imitation grunted from his spot on the ground. "She ordered this bully to come and _question_ , me and my team." The boy then pointed an accusing finger at Tsunade, his sapphire-blue eyes narrowing.

Kakashi watched as the two other kids nodded their heads in agreement, something that would almost never happen in his old team if it was Naruto talking. Sasuke was too proud, to admit that the Uzumaki was right about something and Sakura would just accuse the blonde of stealing the Uchiha's idea.

He then turned his gray eye towards his leader, with a disapproving spark in it. The Fifth Hokage looked away from it, though he couldn't tell if it was from shame or because she knew she didn't have to answer to him, for what she did.

"You." He mentioned, pointing a finger directly at her turned head. "We're going to have a little chit-chat about this, after this is over." After not receiving a response, the legendary Copy-cat turned to face the back of his captive. "I hope you liked using your arm today, Ibiki." He wisped to the taller man's ear. "Because you're going to be striped of that privilege, for a long time." Before the captive ninja could even protest, a loud snap echoed through the wall and Kakashi could feel the bone crack beneath his gloved hand. The action was quickly followed by Ibiki's painful yells.

The three children watched the interrogation specialist fall to the ground, griping his injured arm.

"Son of a-" A well placed kick to the chest stopped the taller male from finishing.

"Not in front of children, Ibiki." Kakashi snarled, glaring at the man till stopped mumbling curses at him under his breath. He was really cross with the guy right now and hoped he'll stay out of his way for the next few weeks or so.

The stupid jounin didn't see that the genin clearly have been raised outside their village, otherwise they wouldn't have given up the name of, what they _believed_ to be their village, so quickly.

The kids didn't deserve the cruelty Ibiki was showing them. But the Copy Ninja knew that the interrogation specialist was too far gone, to show compassion and sympathy to the people he was called in to break.

Shaking his head, he moved away from his old friend and made his way to the injured boy, who was massaging his injured arm on the floor.

"You okay, kid?" The Copy Nin asked softly, letting the serious frown disappear and replacing it with a more trustworthy look on his face.

Rashiro, he believed was his name, looked up at him with curiosity in the eyes of his valued student, as if he was questioning whenever or not he could trust him.

Kakashi smiled with his eye. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." He assured, kneeling in front of the genin. "I can see your arm bothers you, can I have a look at it?"

The black-red-white haired boy looked at his arm, then back at the man before him.

The limb did bother him a bit but it was nothing Aria couldn't fix with her healing jutsu. Not to mention the fact that something about that silver haired man, made him want to trust him with his life. Something he rarely did when it came to grown up's.

There was something different about him. Was it the true concern sparkling in his lone eye that was absent in every other pair of adult eyes he saw, or the gentle, nonthreatening aura surrounding him, he couldn't tell.

It was amazing on how fast he was begging to trust the unknown ninja.

Maybe he should give him a chance?

Flashing a giant smile he shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine. It's just a crack, nothing too serious." He then pointed at the other grow up, with his hand. "But he's going to need a doctor for that one. You broke his arm pretty badly."

But Kakashi just shrugged. "Don't worry about him, he's been through worse. He'll be fine, at least now he knows what his prisoners feel like when he 'take's care of them'." He said glaring at the older ninja, who deflected it with a glare of his own.

A giggle made him turn his head back to the boy.

"You're funny." Rashiro stated grinning. "Has anybody ever told you, you're funny?"

"You try telling that to the people I worked with, on my last mission." Kakashi answered bluntly. "I'm sure they'd disagree with your statement." His voice became a bit more serious in the next sentence. "Now, no excuses. Give me your hand."

The boy complied with a "Hai, sensei." And a small wince.

Kakashi pretended he didn't hear the title and focused on healing the cracked arm.

#Tsunade's POV:

I smiled watching my favorite jounin, take care of the hurt child. I always knew, I taught the ungrateful brat, well.

"You did well, Ibiki." I said to the ninja that was being carried towards me, by Shizune. "Take him to the hospital and make sure his arm is taken care of." I told my appearance when they were half way to the door.

The large man smiled a smile grin, before letting his poker-face take over once more. Once he disappeared through the door, I was a bit surprised to see Shizune back so quickly.

"Weren't you supposed to go with him?" I asked, raising an eye brow.

The smaller medic ninja shrugged. "He said that a broken arm dose not, in any way, affect his walking abilities and that he can get there on his own."

I sighed. Typical, Ibiki. Stubborn idiot.

"May I ask something, Tsunade-sama?"

"Hmmm?" My blonde eye brow went even higher. "What is it?"

"Why did you tell, Ibiki-san to crack the poor child's arm?" Shizune asked, eyeing me. "We knew he was telling the truth, there was no need for that."

I chuckled shaking my head.

"My dear, Shizune have you noticed how much more depressed and hurt Kakashi's been acting, ever since Naruto and Sakura left him? No? I'm actually not surprised. He's gotten so good in hiding it, only those who know him well can see though his masquerade. He's suffering from the 'empty nest' syndrome, even if he'll never admit it out loud." I said turning to the brat. "I knew Kakashi wouldn't take those poor, village-less kids in, because he's afraid of making the same mistakes he did with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. That's why I needed to awake the protective instincts he has for his students. And since Rashiro resembles Naruto…"

"Oh! I get it." Shizune smiled. "Kakashi wouldn't let anything happen to his beloved student. You knew he'd leap into action if Ibiki threatened to hurt the boy, even if it was a clone and not the original. And now that he knows the children are not safe with you, he'll _have_ to take them in to insure their safety." My appetence winked at me. "Very clever my lady."

I smiled gently at her.

Kakashi might hate me for what I just did, but at least I know that a large wound in the ungrateful brat's heart. Will slowly start to heal from now on.


	4. Chapter 4

"Team seven 2.0."

Chapter 4

"Conceal. Don't feel."

If Kakashi wasn't so focused on getting those children as far away from Tsunade as possible, he might have seen through her plan. Fortunately for the Fifth, his brain was too occupied to sense the deception.

Not knowing he was walking into a deadly trap, the Copy Ninja helped the healed Rashiro to his feet and freed the remaining two from their seated prisons.

Immediately the girl, Aria, ran up to her injured teammate and proceeded with checking the arm Ibiki previously injured while the brown haired boy, Renoir, looked at Kakashi with barely hidden, newfound admiration.

"Relax, Aria." Rashiro smiled, gently pushing the girl's fingers away from his limb. "Gin-san healed it already. It doesn't even hurt, look." He said flicking his arm to prove his right. "See? No pain."

In response Aria let out a sigh of relief and turned to the observing Copy Ninja, with a large smile.

"Thank you for saving dear Rash-kun, Gin-san." The blonde-pink haired healer said, using the whiskered boy's nickname for him and bowed respectfully. "If it wasn't for you, that cruel ninja would have broken his arm rather painfully."

Kakashi was about to brush her of, when he was interrupted by Sasuke's mini clone.

"Yeah. I don't think even people that possess the Swift Kekeigenkai, can move as fast as you can." Renoir said, dark-blue eyes sparkling with awe and the Copy Ninja had to wonder if that's what Sasuke would be like, if Itachi ever killed their entire clan. "I didn't even see it happen. And I _always_ see it happen."

That last sentence made the silver haired ninja, think. What did the kid mean by 'always see it happen'? Did he have a bloodline similar to the sharingan or the Byakugan? He should have, he was the youngest Uchiha's clone after all. But his eyes didn't match those of the sharingan and Byakugan bearers, being in the color of dark blue instead of black or silver.

Shaking his head Kakashi dismissed the thought, it won't be his problem to solve. Soon, he and the kids will part ways and he can forget the situation all together.

He wasn't ready for a new genin team and a new wave of mistakes on his part.

He still hasn't recovered from the first one and the old wounds stung furiously.

He knew, he wouldn't survive a repeat.

On the other hand, those children had been through enough trauma. They didn't need him to add more as a pathetic sensei and caretaker.

They needed a kind hearted spirit that would listen to their troubles and give wisdom in return. They needed somebody who would treat them like children and not like weapons. They needed somebody that wasn't _him_.

And he knew just the man.

"You three." He pointed his finger at each of the genin. "Are going with me." Without another word the silver haired ninja gently pushed the children out the door and through the halls, until they reached the entrance door. There, he took his hands of the small bodies and stepped up to move in front of them.

The Copy Ninja didn't have to clarify the fact that they had to follow him from now on, the squirts were in an unfamiliar territory and he was the first, and only, person to act kindly towards them. They wouldn't dare leave his side.

The walk was quiet, the silence only broken by a few shocked gasps from the villagers as they walked by. Kakashi couldn't blame them from being shocked.

He had the exact same reaction, when _he_ saw the trio.

They looked too much like the team seven they knew.

Unfortunately Kakashi had a bad feeling that, that high resemblance will attract unwanted attention from locals and fellow ninjas. He sighted. Why did it _have_ to be the middle of the day? The time when almost everyone is enjoying themselves outside or doing grocery shopping in the market?

 _This scene will_ definitely _not go unnoticed_. He though as he picked up his pace, wanting to get to his destination as fast as possible.

Soon enough he was proved right by a large crowd gathering around him and the younglings, whispering the names of his students in disbelief.

All that, however, didn't sit well with the genin. Not used to receiving so much attention, the young ninjas subconsciously walked up closer to him. As if wanting to hide in his long shadow.

"Why are they looking at us like that, Gin-san?" Rashiro asked, looking around at the shocked and bewildered villagers, pointing fingers at him while moving his right arm towards that of the taller man. Wanting to grab it for comfort like any normal child his age, would.

Kakashi ignored the boy's move towards his hand and focused on answering the question.

"You guys just remind them of somebody they know, that's all." He didn't bother to correct the genin when it came to his name. The nickname fit perfectly and he might even use it on undercover missions from now on.

"Who do we remind them of, Gin-san?" Renoir asked, dark-blue eyes sparking with curiosity as he looked up at his new hero.

The silver haired ninja was preparing for that question, but that didn't make reviling the answer any easier.

"My old team."

#In Konoha's Ninja Academy:

Iruka groaned under his breath as one of the weaker students made the same mistake for the fifth time this week.

"No, Yoshi." He said in the calmest voice he could muster. "Ox comes _before_ Tigre, not after. When will you learn that, Hissme?" A part of him regretted using the boy's last name but the brat had a whole _week_ to master the 'shadow clone' jutsu, and jet he probably did nothing but play outside with his friends. "We've been though that simple jutsu for _days_ now. What is so hard for you to understand?" He asked, his voice gentler now.

The small boy flinched at the sound of his last name, his big green eyes sparkling with shame and embarrassment.

"I just…" He tailed of unsure if he could continue, his reason of not preforming the hand signs being incredibly stupid. "I just can't remember what comes first, the Ox or the Tigre." He explained, his ginger head hanging low. "I always get mixed up on that part."

Iruka smiled at the young boy before him. He reminded him much of Naruto when _he_ was trying to learn the technique that would ultimately become his signature one.

"That's alright, Yoshi." He placed a hand on the younglings shoulder and the boy looked up. "Now that I know where the problem lays, I can think of a way to fix it." It didn't take long for him to figure out the best way to ensure the boy remembered the correct order of the hand signs.

"First of all you need to-"

"Imagine the situation in real life. A tiger always hunts down the Ox, it's _never_ the other way around." The academy teacher was roughly cut off by the stoic, ever calm voice of village's most perverted ninja _not_ counting Master Jiraya.

Iruka raised an eyebrow at the man standing in the doorway, with his hands placed protectively in his pockets and giving an eye smile in his direction.

Soon the classroom was filled with awed gasps and exited whispers, the children happy one of the most famous ninja decided to visit them at school.

"Really, Master Hatake?" Yoshi asked, his green eyes filled with wonder and hero-worship as he spoke.

Kakashi shrugged. "That's how I memorized it, when I was learning that technique." Iruka couldn't tell if what the masked man said was a lie or a truth. That guy was always hard to read with his face being so heavily covered up. Whatever it was, it had the desired effect.

A mare minute later Yoshi closed his eyes and the elder ninja could see his lips repeating the words of his idol, before preforming the jutsu perfectly.

"I did it! I really did it, Iruka-sensei!" The two clones and the original yelled happily and the teacher smiled.

"Yes, indeed to did, Yoshi." He reached out and ruffled the young man's ginger hair fondly.

The boy then ran up to the Copy Ninja and bowed to him respectfully, thanking the guy with all his heart for teaching him that valuable lesson. To which the silver head just rubbed the back of his neck nervously while dismissing the boy, quoting that 'it-was-nothing' cliché.

"Why do you always seem to be so good in solving other people's problems?" Iruka asked, his eyebrow raised in amusement.

This time it was Kakashi's turn to raise an eyebrow, but not in the same way the academy teacher did but in confusion.

"Did you just admit, you had _no idea_ how to make sure the boy got the message?"

Iruka shrugged. "I've been trying for over a week now." He said. "Nothing worked and I was running out ideas to try. That kid is more 'focus-resistant' than Naruto was at his age."

The taller man chuckled. "And here I thought you can teach anyone anything, after what you went through with Naruto." Kakashi stepped farther in to the class and the teacher couldn't help but notice the three charka signals that didn't follow.

"Yeah, well…the world is full of surprises, Copy Ninja." His smile faded and he look straight into the dark-gray orb. "What brings you here, Kakashi?" Iruka asked, his tone serious.

The said ninja gave him an innocent look. "Do I really have to, have a reason to visit you and those lovely… _children_ of yours?"

Iruka didn't fall for it.

"Yes. Now spill it out, Kakashi or I will make sure the Hokage knows you're ready for another genin team."

The lone eye widened.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me." He folded his arms on his chest.

Kakashi growled under his breath. "Fine. I have a mission for you." He grumbled before the chunin had a chance to respond, motioning for the three shadows behind the door to step up.

The figures obeyed, though reluctantly as one by one three…children, left the secure spot and walked up to the two elder ninjas.

Iruka's eyes widened at the sight of the little ones, barely old enough to leave the academy. They looked exactly like…

He turned his eyes towards the Hatake, the look in them questioning and demanding answers.

The Copy Ninja ignored the teacher's gaze and placed a hand on 'Naruto's' back.

"These kids here." He stepped behind the three genin, his second hand landing on 'Sakura's' shoulder. "Are Rashiro Arashi, Renoir Orewashi and Aria Kuroko."

"Why are they-"

But the jounin ignored him. "They are to be taken under your care until the Hokage finds the location of their village and contacts its elders." He said before giving a small salute and walking away.

"Kakashi I can't take them in, not now." Iruka said sadly, looking into the eyes of light, dark blue and green.

The Copy Ninja stopped midway. "What did you say?" He asked turning around, eye blazing.

The chunin sighted. "Kakashi the exams are just around the corner and, as you yourself can see, not every student is ready for them." He started, gently pushing the small group out the open door.

"But-"

"No buts, Kakashi. My students need to pass so that they can become genin and allow the new generation to take their places."

"But what am I supposed to do with-"

"Take them for a small walk around the village." The chunin sighted seeing the scared look in the Copy Ninja's eye. "Kakashi, I know you're scared of getting close to them and I can totally understand that. The minute the exam is over, I'll take those children under my wing. Until then, have fun playing caretaker." With that, Iruka shut the door in the silver jounin's nose.

The Copy Ninja was about to bang on the door but decided against it, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He sighted irritated and run a hand through his gravity-defying hair and turned to face the young ones behind him.

Dark gray met dark, light blue and green.

For a minute nobody said anything, the sound of a bird echoing above them in the distance.

"So…" Kakashi stated, his hand moving awkwardly towards his neck. God, it has been _years_ since the last time he was taking care of children. "Ramen?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Team seven 2.0."

Chapter 5

"Questions."

"What's…that?" The Copy Ninja nearly chocked when those words left Rashiro's mouth, as the small Naruto clone stared awkwardly at the ramen bowl before him.

After his brief confrontation with Iruka, Kakashi decided to treat the brats to some ramen at Ichiraku's. So far their say in the small building happened to be without troubling incidents, apart from the time they had to order. The poor owner and his daughter nearly stared themselves to unconsciousness as the gazed upon the three figures at the Copy Ninja's side.

Hearing the mini version of the number one knuckleheaded ninja in Konoha not know what his favorite food is, felt...almost as surreal as meeting these brats in the first place.

It just didn't feel right hearing those particular words being spoken in his yellow haired student's voice.

Realizing that the three genin are waiting impatiently for an explanation, he cleared his throat awkwardly and began explaining.

"This, my dear friends, is a dish called 'ramen'"

Big, light-blue eyes blinked. "O~kay…" He then looked at the chop sticks, placed neatly besides the steaming bowl. "And what are those?"

Kakashi began wondering what those children have been eating for the past ten years of their lives, surely they were familiar with chop sticks.

"Those, Rashiro-kun, are chop sticks." He explained, his voice calm and patient. "You use them to eat all kinds of food, like sushi, ramen and other traditional meals."

"Oh." This time it was Renoir that spoke. "Well, in the Hidden Nest we use forks for our food, not some strange sticks." After a minute of trying to catch a floating vegetable with both his sticks, he gave up and began attempting to stab it, using only one.

"And spoons for our soups." Aria added as she clumsily tried to grab a noodle with her chopstick.

"And cups for our drinks." Rashiro spoke, turning his attention from the seemingly impossible dish to the small bowl that contained a bit of water, glaring at it from between suspiciously arrowed eyelids. "How do you even drink this without a handle?" The youngling mumbled, placing his fingers against the smooth glass cup gently as if he was afraid it will explode.

Hearing the children speak about the ways of consuming food they grew up with in a hidden village that never existed, made Kakashi wonder just who raised them. And why was it so different from the ways the Konoha kids were being brought up? If they were _really_ clones of his old team, shouldn't they be raised in the same way to craft the exact same personalities and reactions to situations that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura would have had? And shouldn't Renoir be encouraged to _hate_ Rashiro, instead of treating him like a brother? And shouldn't Aria be _mooning_ over Renoir instead of thinking of him as a sibling? Shouldn't Rashiro be fighting Renoir for Aria's attention, the same way Naruto fought for Sakura's?

This situation really made little sense to him and that's saying _something_.

Why did the children's creator change the relationships between them? Sure, their teamwork was a lot better than it was in the original's case and made them a lot stronger powerhouse, but that wasn't the point. The idea was to create clones with identical powers and abilities as the real Team seven. Completing that can't be possible if the brats won't be subjected to the same thing Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were during their life time, thus forcing the _bastard_ who turned those poor children into guinea pigs, to _somehow_ make sure they went through the exact same thing.

Resting his chin on his hand Kakashi began absentmindedly push around the noodles in his ramen, with his chopsticks.

He wondered how the _mysterious_ individual attempted to accomplish that.

Sending Sasuke's clone to the Uchiha clan to be raised, was out of discussion for obvious reasons. As well as him witnessing the death of said ninjas at the hands of a brother, he does _not_ have.

Renoir will never be the against-y, emo-like, revenge-driven brat, Sasuke was without those things happening.

All the tailed beasts were safely sealed in their hosts, so that also overthrew the village getting attacked by raging nine-tailed fox and it being locked up inside Naruto's clone by the boy's father. That later would result with the entire village treating him like a monster for most of his life.

Rashiro will never be the stubborn, knuckleheaded and never-giving-up child, the Uzumaki was without having to fight for acceptance of his own homeland as well as his teammates.

Sakura didn't go through the same kind of traumatic experiences that molded Sasuke and Naruto into who they were today, but he had to admit that, if Sasuke didn't leave the village to be trained by Orochimaru, the Haruno wouldn't be the small powerhouse she was today when it came to punching and healing techniques.

Aria will never become the intelligent, strong and protective girl, Sakura was without going through the same heartbreak she did, when the 'love-of-her-life' decided to leave everything he swore to protect.

Not to mention every mission, fight and situation that happened when they were under the care of the three sanin that he didn't know of, that can't possibly be recreated?

What about the time when they were together? The simplest of missions like catching a lost cat or helping with the repairs of the village, can be arranged. But missions like that of the bridge builder and the fight with Zabuza and Haku, cannot.

It was an important mission, not only because it was the first serious mission they had together, but because of what it meant to Naruto and Sasuke.

It was the mission that taught the Uzumaki just how unfair and cruel the world is, as well as ensured him that there is still hope for a better future. The same mission showed the young Uchiha the true strength of his bloodline as well as the brutal power of his infamous chidori. Something he will grow to achieve and master, much to Kakashi's regret, since he hated seeing his own creation being used against him, considering that they were now mortal enemies.

Lost in thought the Copy Ninja didn't realize that his three charges were pestering the owners of the small restaurant, asking them politely yet persistently to instruct them on how to eat ramen, since their guardian remained unresponsive to their pleads.

And speaking about abilities and techniques…the Sharingan Warrior had no doubt that, once this meal was complete, there was a large sparring session waiting for him and the three brats. In order for him to determine how much they and his old team have in common, he needs to know the full extent of their powers and abilities, to later compare them to the results the originals got at that age.

He already knew their teamwork will be much better than that of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura during the good old days and, if they are even half as good as they were at that age, he'll be forced to leave his beloved book at home.

The day he's beaten by a bunch of twelve-year-olds, is the day be declares to the world that he hates the 'Icha-icha' series and exchanges his ninken for a bunch of cats.

In other words: It ain't happening.

Sighting he looked around making sure nobody's looking and was about to devour his meal in his regular speed, when another more disturbing question, that lingered in the back of his head, now demanded his full attention.

 _If the bastard genetically cloned the entirety of team seven…_

Finishing his ramen in a flash, the Copy Ninja concentrated his gaze of the three frustrated pre-teens that were whining about 'broken chopsticks'.

 _Then where is_ my _clone?_


End file.
